Page:Under Two Skies.djvu/44

 climbed slowly into sight, and so, hand over hand, into the open air.

A Count de Lorge would have struck the lady with the whip; but Jim just handed it over without a word, and flung himself upon the ground. Without a word Miss Jenny received her whip; she could not speak; but she could see four deep dents in the whalebone, where Jim's teeth had done their best to meet, in the struggle of the stifling upward climb.

All at once a noise came from the shaft—a thumping and a bumping against its sides—growing more distant, but ending in a loud metallic crash. Jim had leapt to his feet, and was gazing down the shaft.

'What is it?' asked Miss Jenny tremulously; her nerves were shaken.

'Only another slab, miss. It'll about do for the old bucket.'

'Are the slabs so heavy?'

'Damp, and heavy as lead.'

'Suppose—oh, suppose you had been down below a minute longer!'

'Why, miss, I should have been a stiff 'un!'